G-8 nations urge help for Afghanistan

KYOTO, Japan - Foreign ministers from wealthy nations urged Afghanistan's neighbors yesterday to play "a constructive role" in stabilizing the war-wracked nation and help it overcome the challenges of terrorism, insecurity and drug production.

A joint statement on Afghanistan, issued after a dinner opening a two-day meeting of ministers from the Group of Eight industrialized nations, also pledged a long-term commitment to supporting Kabul.

The session in the western Japanese city of Kyoto focused on Afghanistan yesterday, though international attention was riveted by North Korea's long-awaited declaration of its nuclear weapons programs in Beijing.

The G-8 conference, which ends this afternoon, was also to include discussions on Iran's uranium enrichment program, the furor over Zimbabwe's presidential run-off election, and the troubled Middle East peace process.

In a joint statement, the ministers urged countries bordering Afghanistan - including Pakistan and Iran - to also help Kabul.

"We call on Afghanistan's neighbors to play a constructive role for the stability of Afghanistan," they said in a statement. "We particularly encourage Afghanistan and Pakistan to continue their cooperation in a constructive and mutually beneficial manner."

Ministers from the United States, Japan, Germany, France, Britain, Italy, Russia and Canada focused on efforts to stabilize Afghanistan's lawless frontier regions where terrorists and drug-traffickers freely operate.

"We agreed to step up support for tribal groups in the Afghanistan-Pakistan border areas," Japanese Foreign Minister Masahiko Komura told reporters, saying the ministers also endorsed about 150 development projects in those areas worth $4 billion.

Fighting between Taliban-led insurgents and foreign and government forces has been surging across the south and east of the country, with nearly 2,000 people killed in insurgency-related violence so far in 2008.

The ministers also urged Kabul to assume a greater role in securing its territory - which in many areas is under the control of warlords - and step up the battle against drug trafficking, particularly cultivation of opium poppy.

Afghan militants

attacked troops from the U.S.-led coalition patrolling south of the capital, Kabul, yesterday, killing three of them and an Afghan interpreter.

The nationality

of the troops was not released, though the coalition is dominated by American forces. International and Afghan forces were searching for the attackers, a coalition statement said.

Responding to a daring

June 13 jail break in the southern city of Kandahar that freed hundreds of Taliban fighters, the Interior Ministry said yesterday it had fired three senior police officials. They included Kandahar provincial police chief Sayed Agha Saqib, whose case was referred to the prosecutor's office.

A ministry statement

said Saqib was "negligent in his duties," but it did not mention what charges he might face.

- Associated Press